Expected Arrival, Unpleasant Surprise

[Ed Elric]

The air was hot and humid, the hot didn’t bother him so much having just come from the desert, it was actually almost cool in comparison. It was the bloody humidity, sticky and thick on his skin, making him sweat like hell beneath his clothes. Though maybe that had a little more to with three layers than the humidity, but he was damned sure the humidity wasn’t helping! The station was bustling, as usual, teaming with hurried men and women racing for the last call or for a loved one they’d come to meet. To Edward, it always seemed he saw the same people though he never truly recognized them and he smiled slightly, a small piece of something familiar was welcome.

He couldn’t exactly say he was happy to be back in Central, on some level he never truly was because it almost always meant it was time to check in with Colonel Bastard, which was no different this time, but at least he knew it was easy for a state alchemist to shack up somewhere with a proper bed. They had just returned from another wild goose chase, following a lead on the Philosopher’s stone that had come in with a military report. But, as useless as it all had been, he’d managed to get over it some over their two day train trip back, if for nothing other than to make sure his attitude didn’t affect Al’s outlook on things. Besides, with any luck their meeting with Mustang would reveal another lead, and hopefully, as always, would be the real thing this time.

Edward looked about rather warily, hoping not to be greeted once again with a large, hulking escort, not that he could really miss Major Armstrong when he was expected, he’d have to be completely blind. Thankfully, he noted no one in uniform and especially no one towering above everyone else emitting a strange sort of charisma. For that, he sighed a breath of absolute relief. While they’d been gone he’d heard nothing of the alchemist killed, Scar, and though he would keep an eye out if no one had been sent to make sure they were not blown apart he supposed Scar was reported moved to another part of the country. Somehow, he doubted that they’d caught the mass murdered yet, it just didn’t seem possible.

Tossing his suitcase nonchalantly over his shoulder, Ed turned towards the exit in hopes of getting something worth eating to scarf down before reporting to Mustang. He glanced at his brother and grinned widely, tapping the rough metal of Alphonse’s breastplate with his knuckles. “Hey, Al, you ready to go?” He asked, allowing the thought of decent food and new prospects to keep him relatively happy, at least for the moment.

[Ember Lumina]

Ember was on another one of her runs, hopping the roof tops and looking for ninjas. Sure she was nineteen but dreams where hopes and hopes made the world go round. She missed her mother and had not heard from her in a while but the optimist she was told her that her mother was ok. She also missed Fiona, she had recently gotten a letter. Fiona planned to visit, something important she guessed. She hoped it was whatever cure Fiona had left to find. It had been ten years since she had seen her, ten years was a long time.

Her mother of course probably saw Fiona on her travels. Ember had long since realized that her mother loved Fiona as much as Fiona love Flair. Ember accepted it with no qualms. It made Ember happy that her mother was happy, although at times she wondered why Fiona would see Flair and not visit her. Lately Ember had heard something about unrest in the south. The nation of Avalon. Ember was a little worried, she had really liked the place although she still could not figure out why.

Her hair was up in its usual mess, her goggles up on her head and not on her eyes. Her locket was around her neck, hidden under her shirt. Her clothes where her usual and although she still got funny looks Ember was used to it. Ember picked a random target and zeroed in on them. A kid with blond hair and a red coat. She climbed down the walls and walked behind him and said, "Hello." On her face was a big smile. "Im Ember Lumina would you guys like to be my freinds," she said with another smile.

[kiwi]

"'Scuse me! Sorry!" came the chipper voice of Amaya as she slipped through the thick crowd, her violet eyes keeping focused ahead, ignoring the stares of people who were entranced by her brilliantly bright orange hair. She was used to it by now, and she continued to walk through the crowds, before breaking in a run in attempt to break free of the restriction, only to run into a giant hunk of metal. At first the girl was dazed, before she looked up to see that this hunk of metal was actually armor that someone was wearing.

Amaya stared for a minute, she had seen many people, but never someone this peculiar in her long years of life. Her head tilted, and her eyes showed her curiosity, before she realized she hadn't used her manners. This caused a squeak to erupt from her, and she spoke quickly,"I'm sorry for bumping into you! I need to watch where I'm going." A sheepish laugh escaped her and she was rubbing the back of her head, before looking at the other two people and politely dipping her head in greeting.

She pulled her cotton hat down a little in attempt to greet them, before looking at the man in armor once more and speaking,"Sorry once again. Have a good day sir!" She smiled a cute smile, before stepping back, turning and beginning to walk off towards the entrance of the train station.

[Alphonse Elric]

It was always like this in Central, the business of the place was something that the younger Elric was still trying to get accustomed to. No matter how many times they came through the station, it always seemed to be packed with people, those waiting for others to step off the trains to greet them warmly, or those who were taking their own journeys. That was something Edward and Alphonse did a lot, travel, following any leads that they managed to get their hands on, usually they turned out to be nothing but a dead end, and the journey they had returned from this time was no different from the rest. A light sigh resounded within Alphonse's body as he remained within his own thoughts, it was often like this, the spirited approach they took to each lead, the constant reassurings to each other that this was the one, this was the lead that would solve everything...and then that sinking feeling as it all turned out to be for nothing...it was...disheartening.

Despite everything the younger Elric still managed to remain optimistic, there were always more leads, more information to be had...the optimism was what kept him going, kept his spirits high. There was always something to be had, and when one door closed, another always opened...that was what he continued to tell himself. Any normal person would have broken down long ago, he'd spent four years, four long years within this armour body, nothing more than a soul attached to metal. It was difficult, he couldn't deny that, he missed the ability to feel...he missed being able to do a lot of things, to express his emotions, to be able to cry...it was often difficult to deal with his emotions when he could not vent them, and that was a cruelty in itself.

What they had done...it had been a mistake, Edward had lost his leg, and Alphonse had lost his whole body, and even through the pain that Edward had endured at his loss, he had still sacrificed his right arm to regain his younger brothers soul, attaching it to the armour with a seal in his own blood. They were each others support beams, always there with reassuring words and determination, they would be returned to their original forms....that was a promise they made to each other, and to keep trying, no matter what. “Hey, Al, you ready to go?” The sound of Edward's voice and the rapping upon his chest stirred the younger Elric from his thoughts, and his gaze trailed down to his brother as he nodded his head slightly. “Oh...yeah” he replied quietly, allowing himself to once more become encompassed by the sounds of the station.

"Hello." The voice from behind caught the younger boys attention as he turned, finding himself staring at a young girl who apparently..was speaking to them. “I'm Ember Lumina would you guys like to be my friends." Alphonse wasn't exactly sure how to react to that, and as it happened he didn't have to for no sooner than the girl had spoken he heard something collide with his body in a dull thud and his attention was drawn instantly to another new face...this was certainly turning out to be an interesting start to their time in Central. "I'm sorry for bumping into you! I need to watch where I'm going." Alphonse shook his head slightly, there wasn't any harm done...to him at least, but bumping into his body he imagine wouldn't have been exactly pleasant. “That's ok” he said his voice echoing within his body. As she tipped her hat, Alphonse wished he could have smiled in return, but his metal face remained as expressionless as it always had. "Sorry once again. Have a good day sir!" Well....at least Central couldn't be said to boring.

[Ed Elric]

Edward waited impatiently for Alphonse to reply, blinking up at his silence. Of course he knew Alphonse couldn’t be happy with the outcome of their last hunt, Edward was crushed by it and it couldn’t possibly have been as bad as what Al was feeling. But Al usually tried so hard to remain optimistic that he almost always succeeded. “Oh…yeah,” he said finally, the helmet over his shoulders moving slightly with the response. Ed frowned; selfishly thinking that he really wished Al would cheer up some. The selfish part being that he didn’t want Alphonse to remain so depressed because it made Edward feel even more guilty than he did all of the time. With a little work Ed wiped the frown off of his face and opened his mouth to say something more when a straight forward voice came from behind them.

“Hello,” the woman’s voice said before continuing without pause. “I’m Ember Lumina, would you guys like to be my friends?” There was also a bit of commotion beside him as someone in a hurry bumped into Alphonse, but he was more concerned by the question directed towards him as well…at least he supposed it was directed towards him. He turned abruptly into the face of a girl, relatively small and wearing a strange adornment of goggles and what appeared to be cloth mesh. He stepped back slightly, his eyebrows raised extremely high. Certainly he didn’t recognize the girl…why exactly was she talking to him?

“Uh…Hi,” Edward said unintelligently, bringing his free hand up to rub the back of his neck, still baffled by her appearance and what exactly he should say to her unprecedented arrival. “I’m Edward Elric.” Basically, he’d decided to give her the same information she’d given him and nothing more. He looked over to Al, to see what he’d made of this but he was busy listening to a tiny girl apologize for bowling into him forcing him to turn back and confront the very forward girl.

He wondered if she’d chosen them completely by random selection or if, though it seemed so paranoid, there was some ulterior motive to speaking to them in particular. He hoped whatever it was she wanted wouldn’t take to terribly long. He’d had the thought of food and now his mind was off on a positive tangent. “Uhm, Al, why don’t you say hello?” he said, hoping to take some of the heat off of himself and then get the hell out of the train station.

[Ember Lumina]

Ember smiled as he said his name, Edward Elric The fullmetal Alchemist. Although she was not one for alchemy she knew that the guy in front of her was an accomplished genius. "Pleasure Fullmetal and brother, what are the odds that I run into you. I dont suppose you have seen any ninjas? Just kidding about the ninjas," she said with a wink and a smile. That was her, always smiles. Of course she had only ever met one ninja, but other then that it was pretty empty. "If you two need a place to stay my house is open, no money to stay, Im sure I can trust you two, afterall you guys are the good guys," she said with another even wider smile.

She knew about these two, the stories where all rather good and she believed that they could be trusted. Plus it was against her morals the be negative towards people. Smiles usually brought smiles, and happiness brought hope. It was a good policy in her book. It was better to make people happy rather then sad, sadness only made things worse. "I like your coat by the way, its a very pretty red," she said with a small laugh and another smile.

[Alphonse Elric]

Things hadn’t exactly been going well of late, one lead after another seemed to lead to another dead end, another seemingly wasted journey, but more often than not it was not entirely wasted, they often met people on the road and somehow managed to help them, even if they didn’t find what they were looking for, Alphonse took at least some solace in the fact that they at least did some good for others. He hadn’t exactly expected to be pounced upon by a child when he had left the train, nor had he expected to be bumped into by another moments later, it wasn’t exactly a common occurrence, no matter how busy the station was. Watching the young girl leave on her way the younger Elric sighed lightly, it hadn’t bothered him in the least, and truthfully he had been more worried that she had hurt herself when she had crashed into him rather than worrying about himself, it wasn’t as though he could feel it anyway.

“Uh…Hi,I’m Edward Elric.” The younger boy could hear his brother conversing with the other young girl, introducing himself but he was too lost in his own thoughts for the moment. They had been searching for so long, four years was a long time for anyone to be searching for one thing, but how many people could say that their goal was to obtain the Philosopher’s stone? Probably not many, though no doubt there had been other people before them that had searched for the same thing and he wondered if perhaps someone had once possessed the true stone, but somehow that seemed doubtful in itself. “Uhm, Al, why don’t you say hello?” Huh? The younger Elric turned his attention to his brother and the girl rather quickly, taking a moment to remember exactly what Edward had said.

"Pleasure Fullmetal and brother, what are the odds that I run into you. I don’t suppose you have seen any ninjas? Just kidding about the ninjas," Normally he would have followed what his brother had said and introduced himself properly, but this child had pretty much taken any words he had left from him. For one she talked incredibly fast, not that there was anything really wrong with that, more that she had managed to stun Alphonse into a somewhat confused state, and for once he was thankful that his thoughts and feelings could not show upon his face. “Uh...” he finally managed to get a word out...or at least a word of sorts, he really didn’t know what to say. "If you two need a place to stay my house is open, no money to stay, Im sure I can trust you two, afterall you guys are the good guys," That was a nice gesture in itself, but they didn’t exactly know her that well...actually, besides her name, there was little they did know. “That’s...really nice of you...” said Alphonse, looking to his brother, hoping he’d have something to say to make this situation less awkward.

[Ed Elric]

Edward rubbed the back of his neck nervously -so used to his automail the cool metal didn’t make him flinch- and laughed uncomfortably. Ninjas? What the hell was she talking about, crazy maybe? He shot a glance to Al, whom was stuttering a reply to her odd question and Ed stepped in to take up the answer. “That is very nice of you, but we’ve got a place to stay.” That was true, not only did they have a place to stay, they had options.

Last time they’d been in Central Mr. Hughes had made a point to ask them back were they ever in the area again, and they had been told whenever necessary there were spare dorm rooms on military grounds. He wasn’t even positive if he would have accepted her offer had they been destitute. Not that anything about her particularly set him on edge; he just wasn’t the sort of person that often accepted the offers of strangers.

Grinning thankfully at the comment about his coat, Ed thrust his suitcase towards Al, mostly because his arms wouldn’t get tired and Ed’s was already beginning too. He collected books after all and he swore were he to be reincarnated for another lifetime he would take to accumulating something lighter, like lead. “Uh, thanks.” He said, just a little awkwardly.

She smiled a lot, he noticed. And maybe that was what had him somewhat uneasy. Most people he spent any time around at all didn’t smile very often, Al couldn’t, Teacher never had been much for smiling, more the scolding type, and the only time his superiors like Mustang smiled was if they had something up their pompous sleeve. Mom had smiled a lot, and Alphonse used too, he didn’t remember if Hohenheim ever smiled and he didn’t give a flying fuck either way. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you, too.” He finally forced out, remembering at the last minute the manners Teacher had attempted to beat into his head.

He glanced around the train station again, anxious to be under way, not that he was particularly antisocial, but they had things to do, then looked back up at Alphonse.

[Ember Lumina]

Ember was a bit excited she could tell, her heart was light and her brain was going. But although the two in front of her where children she remembered that they where not usually treated as such. Afterall the eldest was a dog of the military. Which was a bit sad because someone so young and brainy really should be a bit more free. But it was his choice. Her brain then wondered to what alchemy felt like and if it was nice. Her mother had not allowed her to learn alchemy. It was the only thing forbidden to her, well that and imitating animals in eating grass, but that had only been one time.

Ember closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks lightly twice. When she opened her eyes she felt calmer. "Sorry about that, maybe I should limit the amount of sugar I intake. I keep forgetting Im not a child anymore and letting the happy side of me get away a bit to much. So you guys need any help, I dont mind assisting," she said honestly with a smile. She appeared calmer as well, less jumpy and more calm albeit still happy.

"Like I said the name is Ember Lumina Im a mechanic and tinkerer, if you ever have need of a mechanic just visit me," she said with a smile. She liked cars and working on them, the oil the grit the fact in never really did remove itself from your hair. Of course when she had to be neat that was always a problem. She didnt really know that the boy in front of her had automail, she really didnt care she had no idea how it worked. Hadnt decided to learn about it yet and was to focused on the cars and phone systems. Albeit she almost got in serious trouble the one time she accidentally tapped into teh military line. That had been nasty.